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Call for Research Presentation Proposals – One Goal: Building the Future Together, “Putting Families and Children First”
| February 28, 2010 |
The 2010 One Goal Summer Conference, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency at Tampa City Center in Tampa, Florida on July 21-23, 2010, is celebrating 24 years of bringing together 900 early education and care providers and leaders from around the state. As one of many sponsors of the 2010 Summer Conference, the Department of Education, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services, we are extending this invitation to submit a proposal to present your early education and care research during the conference’s research luncheon on Thursday, July 22, 2010. If you would like the opportunity to present your research at the 2010 Conference, please complete and return the Research Presentation Form by February 28, 2010. For the Research Presentation Form or for more information please contact Frankie Allen, Conference Coordinator, at frankieallen_2000@yahoo.com or (850) 893-6270.
PIRC January Family Fun Calendar
The Florida Parental Information and Resource Center (PIRC) has created monthly Family Fun Calendars to promote parent involvement. These calendars are available in English at http://www.floridapartnership.usf.edu/documents/Newsletter%20and%20Calendar/Jan10%20CalendarEC.pdf and in Spanish at http://www.floridapartnership.usf.edu/documents/Newsletter%20and%20Calendar/Jan%202010ECsp.pdf.
FamilyEducation.com
The Family Education website offers several tips and activities for the whole family. Articles and activities are organized by age. This music and movement sheet has great ideas for toddlers. View at http://fun.familyeducation.com/toddler/music/37371.html.
Resource from The National Center on Response to Intervention
Access the Updated Screening Tools Chart. This chart represents the results of the second annual review of screening tools by the Center’s Technical Review Committee. The chart provides ratings on the technical adequacy of screening tools used within an RTI context. The tools were rated against five technical standards: (1) classification accuracy; (2) generalizability; (3) reliability; (4) validity; and (5) disaggregated reliability, validity, and classification data for diverse populations. Additional information on the efficiency of the tools and how to implement them can be found on the chart as well. The National Center on RTI publishes this tools chart to assist educators and families in becoming informed consumers who can select screening tools that best meet their individual needs. Please note that the Center does not endorse or recommend the tools included in the chart. For more information, visit www.rti4success.org.
New Guide for Parental Engagement
A new publication from the National PTA provides key facts, background, analysis, noteworthy statutes, and policy recommendations for state PTAs and other family and child advocates for crafting successful school-family engagement legislation at the state level. The reference guide has two declared purposes. It provides information on family engagement provisions within state education laws, so that families can better advocate for their children’s education on the school and district levels. It also guides policymaker and advocate development of legislative reform initiatives, as well as efforts to monitor implementation of laws already in place. Research shows compelling evidence that children benefit from family engagement in their schools, and that family engagement helps close educational gaps between children from different racial groups and socioeconomic backgrounds. “These are exciting times for the field of family and community engagement, given the renewed emphasis on shared responsibility in uplifting our nation’s education system and standing in the global community,” write the authors. “The time is now to advocate for bold policy reforms that support the advancement of systemic family engagement initiatives in all of our schools.” In their view, implementation of state policies at the local school level is a critical component of achieving greater family engagement in education.
See the guide at http://www.pta.org/3717.asp.
Available Resources
The RtI Teaching Learning Connections (RtITLC) project provides professional development in the areas of literacy and mathematics to support the instructional components needed to intensify instruction for all learners. Web-based products and events related to RtI awareness, literacy, mathematics, diverse learners, and differentiated instruction are available for access and/or download through RtITLC at http://rtitlc.ucf.edu/index.html. You may contact RtITLC via email at RtITLC@mail.ucf.edu.
Visit National Center on Response to Intervention (NCRTI)’s RTI State Database
This Database provides resources that were developed by states and districts in the U.S. on a number of topics related to RTI. You can search by state, by topic, or by resource type to help you find information of interest. The database can be accessed through the NCRTI homepage www.rti4success.org, by clicking on the “Search the RTI State Database” button.
FunBrain.com
Visit this collection of games sorted for use in the classroom! In addition to the Quiz Lab, FunBrain.com has educational games designed for learners of all ages. This guide should help teachers find the games that are most useful to their class. They are grouped by title, subject, and grade level. Browse this website at http://www.funbrain.com/teachers/curric.html.
NASA Kid’s Club
Check out the website at NASA for science minded children!
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html
SEDL Afterschool Training Toolkit: Building Quality Enrichment Activities
SEDL is a private, nonprofit education research, development, and dissemination (RD&D) corporation based in Austin, Texas. Improving teaching and learning has been at the heart of SEDL’s work for more than 40 years. SEDL has released an Afterschool Training Toolkit: Building Quality Enrichment Activities and has many resources available to support delivery of afterschool and expanded learning opportunities. View this toolkit online at http://www.sedl.org/expertise/afterschool_products.html.
